Riptilion
Riptilion was a heavyweight robot which competed in Series 6 of Robot Wars, also appearing in side competitions through the second series of Extreme and Series 7, representing its home country of New Zealand in the latter. However, Riptilion did not win any of its three battles. The robot's name combines rip with reptilian. The Terror-Dactyls also entered the main competition of Series 7 with the similar Araknia. Design Riptilion was circular in shape, making it one of the widest machines in Robot Wars at 139cm. Themed after a reptile, it used a scaly design with an image of two dinosaurs on top, and cost £2,000 to build. Riptilion was primarily a sit-and-spin design, using a two-wheel drive and static cutting teeth to cause damage by driving the robot in circles. In Series 6, Riptilion had four static teeth, but this was reduced to three before Extreme 2 and Series 7 to make way for a new active weapon, a small lawnmower blade, positioned at an angle. Riptilion's statistics board in Series 6 claimed the robot had a spinning disc, but this was not seen. According to Jonathan Pearce, Riptilion boasted very high top speeds of 27mph. The team also pioneered a unique 'side step' manoeuvre for Riptilion - its wheels were so far apart that the driver could send one wheel into reverse, carrying the body of the robot around its own circumference to sneak behind other opponents. However, Riptilion's relatively flat top gave it a weakness to axe and hammer weapons, and although Riptilion's wide shape made it hard to flip, it could not self-right nor run inverted. Robot History Series 6 In its Robot Wars debut, Riptilion was drawn against the second seed and reigning UK runner-up Bigger Brother, alongside Major Tom and Killer Carrot 2. It was immediately targeted by the seasoned Bigger Brother, which flipped Riptilion up, although the wide robot was not turned over due to its size. Riptilion landed on Bigger Brother's wedge and was clamped by the flipper, and pushed into Mr. Psycho, also being flicked up again, so Riptilion attempted to push Bigger Brother out of the way. However, even after Bigger Brother drove away, Riptilion failed to evade a hammer blow from Mr. Psycho, rattling the body of the robot. Riptilion attempted to use its sit-and-spin tactics near the Disc of Doom, but was not challenged by its foes, and Riptilion eventually drove too close to the pit which was open, and fell into it. Riptilion was eliminated from the Sixth Wars at this stage. The Terror-Dactyls revealed to Philippa Forrester after the match that they were close to withdrawing before the battle started as they were suffering from issues with their controller, but competed after believing they had fixed the issue with superglue. Extreme 2 In the Iron Maidens competition, Riptilion was driven by Lorna Graham, and faced long-time Robot Wars competitors Behemoth and Kat 3. Riptilion was extremely passive in the opening stages while Behemoth flipped Kat 3; this allowed Riptilion to spin up its new lawnmower blade, but also drove head-first into an angle grinder. Riptilion turned to face the struggling Kat 3, but did not attack it, and was lifted up by Behemoth and dropped. However, this did bring Riptilion's weapon into contact with Kat 3, causing a side panel to come loose from Kat 3. Once Riptilion had landed, it lost mobility and could only spin its weapon in self-defence, but caused little damage to Behemoth. Shunt and Mr. Psycho closed in on the docile machine, waiting for Riptilion to be rendered officially immobile. Kat 3 then drew close, and buried its spiked axe straight through the shell of Riptilion, dragging it backwards until it rested on top of the pit. While Kat 3 pressed the pit release button, Refbot counted Riptilion out. Riptilion was directly in front of the pit, but Kat 3 and Mr. Psycho fought for the opportunity to push it down. Mr. Psycho slammed its hammer onto Riptilion, before Kat 3 pushed Riptilion over the open pit, where the width of the robot suspended it there until Mr. Psycho knocked it in, and hammered it one last time. Series 7 While the Terror-Dactyls competed in the main competition of Series 7 with Araknia, they represented their home country of New Zealand using Riptilion in a qualifier for The Third World Championship against the Belgian representative, Hard. The Belgian team were not confident of their ability to flip Riptilion due to its size. Riptilion utilised its sit-and-spin tactics to defend itself from Hard and power up its lawnmower blade, but Hard found its way underneath and threw Riptilion into the arena wall. Hard was completely submerged by the size of Riptilion, but flipped it up again and drove it into an empty CPZ, although Riptilion's spinning blade made contact with Hard, causing a visible bend in its front armour. Riptilion was pushed into another CPZ by Hard, where the Belgian machine and Cassius Chrome unleashed a joint attack on the vulnerable Riptilion. Unable to escape from the CPZ, it was next attacked by Growler, which bit into Riptilion's shell, and dragged the now completely immobile robot over the pit. Hard flipped and pushed Riptilion while it was counted out by the Refbot, ending its qualifying campaign. Growler gripped Riptilion by its spinning blade, and dragged it onto the floor flipper, which threw Riptilion forwards in a somersault, and 'cease' was called during one last attack from Hard. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 0 *Losses: 3 Series Record Trivia *The Terror-Dactyls are the only New Zealander team to enter Robot Wars. *Riptilon's image on its statistics board during Series 7 appears to use a cropped version of the pre-battle shot of it under the Arena spotlight, instead of a studio shot like almost all other competitors' stat boards. It is possible this is because the robot was brought in at short notice, since Araknia took significant damage during the main competition. *All three of Riptilon's losses involved at least one robot that was armed with a flipper. *In Riptilion's first appearance, it appeared in the first battle of the episode. In its second appearance, it appeared in the second battle of the episode and in its third appearance, it appeared in the third battle of the episode. Category:Robots with puns for names Category:Robots with Mascots Category:UK Series competitors Category:New Zealand Robots Category:Robots from the UK that represented another nation Category:Robots from Lancashire Category:Robots with multiple appearances without winning a battle Category:Robots with Lawnmower Blades Category:Robots which have driven into the Pit Category:Robots to never have a judges' decision Category:Robots which debuted in Series 6 Category:Animal Based Robots Category:Sit-and-Spin Robots Category:Articles in need of images Category:Dinosaur Themed Robots Category:Articles in need of rewriting